This is a new piece inspired by the movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The movie itself was a little confusing, but the imagery was astounding, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized.

This image crashed Photoshop nearly every time I added a new layer, mostly likely because the document size is 12 x 18 at 300 dpi with at least 30 layers and effects.

Admittedly, Marionette is one of my favorite pieces. It took a while to reach a resolution on color and the various elements present; in fact, I put it aside for well over a month before attempting to finish it. I guess sometimes that’s what it takes…

The Greensboro 48 Hour Film project took place about a month ago on the weekend of June 12^th. For those who don’t know, the 48 Hour Film Project is a world-wide competition in which teams of writers, directors, actors and animators make a film from scratch in 48 hours (www.48hourfilm.com).

There are strict rules that each team must adhere to. Additionally, there are several key elements predetermined by the Commission of 48 such as the main character, prop and one line of dialogue that is required to be included in all the films. At competition kickoff, each team draws from a hat the genre in which their film must emulate. From there, each team disperses to write the script, shoot the action, and develop the soundtrack, graphics and visual effects. It is without question a wild time.

Our team, 10 lb. Hammer picked silent film, which I was pretty excited about. To me, a silent film is a great canvas for experimenting with purely visual storytelling and not relying on dialogue to explain to the audience what is happening. It is also a chance to draw attention to sound design and the remarkably hard discipline that it is. Like visual design, sound design is best when it goes unnoticed, but the observer still finds that they are emotionally moved even though they may not be able to pinpoint why.

I’m proud to announce that our film made it into the 48 Best of which included only 1/3 of the qualifying submissions. Among ours was a handful of truly masterful films and it was inspiring to see the [underrepresented] talent we live amongst. If only 48 happened more than once a year.

For this year’s film my task was strictly graphics including any print graphics needed as props in addition to opening and ending titles. Going into it, I thought it would be a breeze and I’d have plenty of time to jump into the VFX seat and help out the rest of the post crew. This was not the case.

With the recent acquisition of Adobe CS5 my workflow has experienced more than a few hiccups. For one, working in HD, particularly HDV/HDTV, is hardly ever a picnic. After using the ram preview a couple of times, I inevitably need to restart After Effects because of its delayed response time or it has completely frozen. I’ve been most offended when using 3^rd party plugins such as Optical Flares from Video Copilot. Plugins like this worked great using CS3, but CS5 seems so outrageously fickle and unstable, I cross my fingers every time I set out to do something with a deadline.

So coming back to 48, my work finished rendering just under the gun. I suppose it wouldn’t be 48 without the typical scramble to render and export, but it astonished me that such sophisticated machinery and software could seem so archaic in its use.

Aside from the technical difficulties and the lessons learned, I’m thrilled with the work I produced. I see a great shift in my thinking and execution regarding design, motion graphics and my work as a whole. My process is starting to take shape and I am beginning to recognize why I make the decisions I do. I don’t claim to be an expert on the technicalities of my choice applications, such that I’m not savvy with motion tracking and imported camera data, however, my strength lies in the visual execution and the role it plays as a part of the whole. The most successful design is that which you don’t notice but still remains impactful.

Here is a link to 10 lb. Hammer’s 2010 48 Hour Film Project film.

Several people have asked me what my inspiration was for this, which is probably the most flattering feedback an artist can ask for. It seems to me that when someone asks the question “what was your inspiration”, it’s clear that they are not only moved by the piece, but they are curious as to how you, as the artist, thinks; they want to know more, and they want you to finish telling them the story.

So, what was my inspiration? I’m sorry to say that I did not save the link, but the image that motivated this piece was a beatiful and whimsical illustration of the same subject matter. Truthfully, I didn’t save the link on purpose because I wanted to be left with the initial emotion the image invoked in me and not be compelled to revisit it, thus altering my own process and final illustration. I’m glad I did this because from what I remember of the original piece, it looks nothing like what I’ve created here. So, thank you to the unknown artist and unnamed piece for your moment of inspiration.